IN THIS ‘NASTY‚ TOUGH WORLD’ DEAL ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT A ‘LIFELINE’
As South African universities gear up for another
volatile year‚ parties at the 6th World Sustainability Forum urged African
universities to take the lead in achieving the world’s sustainable development
goals.
The
forum‚ which opened on Friday in Cape Town and wrapped up on the weekend‚
called on universities to solve the challenges of sustainable development
through education and inter-disciplinary research.
The
17 sustainable development goals (SDGs)‚ such as zero hunger and affordable and
clean energy‚ were adopted as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
by the UN in September 2015.
World-acclaimed
economist Dr Jeffrey Sachs said: “I regard this (2015-2030) as the breakthrough
period to end extreme poverty on the continent and for Africa to become one of
the most dynamic centres of the world economy.
“Achieving
the SDGs ‘is the moonshot for our generation’. Like the moonshot [moon landing]
of the 1960s‚ these are tough‚ bold and achievable objectives‚” he said.
“This
is a nasty‚ tough world we live in‚ and our world agrees on very little. So
when 193 governments agree on something‚ that is important. And when they agree
on something as important as sustainable development‚ that is really something
for us to grab hold of – that is a lifeline.”
Universities‚
business and government must work together to achieve these goals‚ said the
international and SA participants at the forum.
Dr
Aldo Stroebel‚ an executive director at the National Research Foundation‚ said
it was key to strengthen an academic framework that reached into policy and
rural environments‚ showing the links and effectiveness of this work.
Only
a few African countries have research foundations and historically its
universities‚ with some differences in South Africa‚ did not prioritise
research said Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng‚ deputy vice-chancellor for research
and internationalisation at UCT.
“Apart
from the low number of research outputs‚ there have been questions about the
quality of research‚” she said‚ also for partnership to build capacity‚
collaborations and to retain the best
researchers
in Africa.
“Higher
education is at a crossroads‚ and there is much polarisation. We need to think
carefully about how this sustainable development agenda is owned by all so that
it is inclusionary‚” she said.
“Sustainability
is not just an African problem‚ it is an international problem‚” Phakeng said‚
encouraging African researchers to set their own agendas instead of these being
driven by western funding.
Sachs‚
the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University‚ is a global scholar
who has prioritised sustainability in his research.
He
and his wife Dr Sonia Sachs‚ director of the Health Centre at the Centre for
Sustainable Development at Columbia University‚ were announced as winners of
the first World Sustainability Award at the forum.
The
joint winners of the first ‘Emerging and Sustainability Leader Award’ were
Kenyan agriculture researcher Esther Ngumbi‚ who is studying at Alabama
University‚ and automative control systems specialist Xiaosong Hu from
Chongqing University in China.
Credit: Claire Keeton
TMG Digital/The Times
IN THIS ‘NASTY‚ TOUGH WORLD’ DEAL ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT A ‘LIFELINE’
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